Built in 1968, Roosevelt Elementary School in Indio has an open-air layout where classrooms are connected to central, circular areas without doors. Students can look across these open spaces into the other classrooms.

But following recent school shootings across the country, some parents are worried that Roosevelt Elementary School's modernist design is out of step with 21st Century security concerns.

After receiving a 236-signature petition, administrators at the school and the Desert Sands Unified School district have decided to outfit the classrooms with locking doors.

While the doors are expected to be built within the next year, Maria Wynn, the parent who started the petition, is reminded of the urgency with each school shooting that occurs across the country.

"I wish it could be done tomorrow, you know? Just last week, we had another episode at a school," Wynn said, referring to the school shooting that occurred at Santa Fe High School in Texas on May 19. "Every time it happens, I don’t want to send my kids to school."

According to Wynn, most of the classrooms don't have their own exits that allow students to leave the building. Students can only leave the campus through the central areas, which, says Wynn, can take up to two minutes.

Desert Sands Unified School District would not allow the Desert Sun direct access to the school due to the security concern of publicizing the layout of the school. However, parents and instructors describe the interior as having two main circular areas, each with classrooms branching out without a door or partition.

"In light of recent national incidents of school violence we are making changes to Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School," said district spokesperson Mary Perry. "Designed in 1968 the original architectural design called for a more open concept not in keeping with today's requirements for more secure schools."

For parents like Wynn, who has a daughter in third grade at the school, the goals of this design element are secondary to student safety. Other members of the Roosevelt Elementary School community seem to agree.

"Aesthetically, it's cool," said Vanessa Gonzalez, an employee at Desert Recreation, which runs an after school program at Roosevelt Elementary. "Maybe at the time it was a good idea."

Wynn said she received overwhelming support from teachers and other parents who agreed that the doors were long overdue.

"I was collecting signatures to take to the district, and they were saying, 'Finally someone is doing something about this,'" Wynn recalls.

Some Roosevelt Elementary parents have their own suggestions about how to address security in the aftermath of this year's shootings. Jeanetta Schenck, who has two grandchildren at Roosevelt, said she would like to see the school build peepholes onto the doors.

Joe Lopez, whose daughter attends the school, said he has always been confident in the security measures already in place at Roosevelt, but he supports the decision to build doors.

"I think it's proper," Lopez said, "but I'm not gonna go to city council about it."

Vanessa Gonzalez, the instructor in the after-school program, says there are other practical reasons to build the doors.

"It's cool the sections can see into each other," she said, "but the noise travels."

According to Gonzalez, some of the teachers trying to work in their classrooms after school have complained about the noise during after-school programs. She doesn't think the doors will have a huge impact on students' learning or social behavior.

The district accepted Wynn's petition last month and will be moving forward with the construction. Bids and proposals from architects are currently being considered, according to district spokesperson Perry.

Wynn says the results of this petition demonstrate the power of family involvement.

"I would like to encourage parents to get more involved in school," she said. "It’s not just the school’s responsibility, it’s our responsibility."